St. Augustine CRA board authorizes West City plan to go to planning board

The City of St. Augustine Community Redevelopment Agency on an unanimous vote authorized staff to forward the draft West City Community Redevelopment Area plan to the local planning agency (planning and zoning board) for review, with modest language revisions requested by commissioners.

The vote authorizes Jamie D. Perkins, Neighborhood Services and CRA Manager for the City of St. Augustine, to present the 72‑page draft plan — including its six strategic action areas, tax increment projections and an implementation schedule — to the planning and zoning board. The motion passed with Commissioners John DePrater, Nancy Sykes Klein, Cynthia Garris, Jim Springfield and Barbara Blonder all voting yes.

Why it matters: the West City CRA plan sets program goals and a funding framework for targeted capital improvements and programs in a long‑established neighborhood that commissioners and residents said faces needs including housing stabilization, business development, connectivity and historic preservation.

Perkins told the board the plan’s core items are in sections 5, 7 and 8 and asked the board to focus review on the action items, TIF (tax increment financing) projections and the…